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The final details of the €100m Brexit beef fund, known as the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM), have been announced by the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed.
BEAM will open for applications during the third week of August 2019.
To qualify for payment, farmers must reduce the production of bovine livestock manure nitrogen per herd by 5%.
The target period for the reduction will be between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2021.
The 5% reduction will be based on a reference period from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.
Farmers will also have to be a member of a Bord Bia quality assurance scheme or a Department of Agriculture environmental scheme.
Dairy inclusion
In a change to the provisional scheme terms, dairy herds with less than 40 cows will now be eligible for payment.
The Department of Agriculture said these smaller herds typically have a mixed enterprise, with a lower than average dairy income, and a beef income accounting for a higher proportion of total farm income.
The aid will be paid on all adult cattle slaughtered between 24 September 2018 and 12 May 2019, at a rate of €100/animal up to a maximum of 100 finished animals per herd.
Aid will also be paid on suckler cows that calved in 2018 at a rate of €40/cow up to a maximum of 40 sucklers per herd.
Animals controlled by factory or dealer/agent herds will not be eligible for payment.
In the event that BEAM is oversubscribed, payment rates may be subject to minor revision, according to the Department.
Application process
Minister Creed said the scheme had been designed to make the application process as user-friendly as possible. He said farmers would be in a position to apply within weeks with a view to making payments as quickly as possible.
The Minister said: “I am keenly aware that the past few months have been very difficult for beef farmers. There has been a prolonged and exceptional period of depressed prices since last autumn, with the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the outcome of Brexit, among other factors, contributing to this market disturbance.
“The availability of this EU and Exchequer support, together with the Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot (BEEP) introduced earlier this year, provides an injection of up to €120m in aid for the beef sector in 2019.”
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